Thomas Biederer, PhD

Thomas Biederer received his Ph.D. in Cell Biology from the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany. Thomas Biederer then pursued postdoctoral training with Dr. Thomas Südhof at the UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas to investigate mechanisms of synapse formation. He started his research group in 2003 as faculty member at Yale University, was 2013-2019 at Tufts University, and joined the Yale faculty again in 2019.

Dr. Biederer’s multidisciplinary research is motivated by his deep-seated interest in the biology of synapses, the cellular structures that connect neurons into networks. His long-term goals are to define how synapses develop, understand their roles in cognition, and investigate the profound disease relevance of synaptic aberrations. Progress from his group is providing insights into trans-synaptic complexes and how they dynamically organize synapse formation and maturation in vitro and in vivo. Attaining these goals is of importance to human health as altered synapse formation and stability underlie devastating brain disorders, including those that are neurodevelopmental diseases and related to drugs of abuse.